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RollingFreak
The Concert For Bangladesh is one of my favorite things ever. I could write about it for days.

I was so young (born so late after) and it was my favorite thing ever. Its more available now than it was in the 90s. Back then, I remember it was really hard to find a CD, let alone the video. I found the CD finally at an old CD World that was a gift from my dad for not biting my nails for a month. Then I remember we ordered the VHS of the concert on Ebay for probably like $30 (probably like $50 or $60 in today's money). My dad had to get it delivered to his office so that my mom wouldn't know (she's aware we're music freaks but anything she doesn't HAVE to know about we try to hide). I loved that god damn VHS. Still have it and never rebought the CD when they re-released everything in like 2006 but bought the $60 deluxe DVD that included a fantastic documentary. They did a wonderful job with that, and I also love that the kept the original record packaging for that version of the DVD. That was a big thing George insisted on in the initial release.

The show itself is extraordinary. I too used to skip Ravi but have grown to really appreciate it. Although I'm happy in its edited length. To me, so much of that concert is legendary, right down to George's look. To this day I still love that white suit with the huge beard and the orange shirt. This concert was always what made George my favorite Beatle. The fact that he selflessly pulled this all together, calling in all his famous friends (I'm so happy Ringo participated, you need to love the two of them) is truly mind boggling, and then that they all killed it. The All Things Must Pass songs far surpass their studio versions, with Wah Wah being a stunning opener to that set. Billy Preston absolutely steals the show with Thats The Way God Planned It, with that dance being legendary in my house. So amazing. Ringo doing It Don't Come Easy and forgetting the words, priceless.

Then of course the gem that is While My Guitar Gently Weeps with George and Eric. Eric in the throes of heroin addiction and still plays his god damn heart out and crushes it. He showed up to ONE rehearsal like the afternoon the day before and plays like a pro. Great joke he makes in the documentary about how he even picked a guitar that was totally wrong for him and made everything 10 times harder. Its incredibly he played as well as he did all things considered but thats why he's god. Poor Jesse Ed Davis was hired in case Clapton didn't show (he missed like 8 flights they booked him on) then got relegated to the background. For years Leon Russell was THE highlight for me then I found out years later thats apparently a part many people hated. Cause I guess it was directly from the shows he was doing at that time and most didn't like his singing. I still think its a highlight and so much fun to see a Beatle playing a Stones song. Badfinger being completely overlooked in the whole performance but the Here Comes The Sun performance is just beautiful with Pete Ham. The smile George gives when they start it to an eruption of applause, thats gotta feel great.

Then on top of that you get Dylan! In what is IMO one of his two greatest guest spots. To me, Dylan has two amazing guest spots, one acoustic and one electric. The electric one is The Last Waltz where he's in rare form and this one. Both performances he walks out for 20 minutes and kills it. His first live performance in like 4 years and apparently he was scared shitless. Ringo's also said they had no idea what the arrangements were and Bob was changing them on the fly. Then to end the night with an excellent new song in Bangladesh, I genuinely can't praise this show enough. Its maybe my favorite concert of all time. The film itself is priceless to have, and yes they had technical issues but all things considered its still a wonderful document. Its not like they really MISS anything in the film, they were just limited. They still make it work. I can't think of a single bad thing to say about this show. Its too bad Lennon declined the invitation. Or at least wanted to go but George forbid Yoko from joining onstage. @#$%& love you George.